


Our Living Empire

by AlienStarlight



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Somebody Lives/Not Everyone Dies, That somebody is Feferi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-05
Updated: 2019-06-05
Packaged: 2020-04-08 10:22:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,516
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19105171
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlienStarlight/pseuds/AlienStarlight
Summary: What if a certain Witch of Life hadn't been brutally murdered in the middle of her grievous rage? What if Feferi managed to harness her royal abilities enough to heal herself from a terrible (but not instantaneously fatal) blow?What if Sollux and Feferi got to have the time they needed together, to be two normal troll teenagers?SOLLUX POVTender Solfef, I know lots of people see them as moirails but this is gonna be red. I know it would be canon to depict this as a doomed timeline but no, I want them to be happy - a fantasy timeline where they win and Feferi lives.





	Our Living Empire

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this before the Epilogue appeared, and I guess I just want to post it up since one of my lingering peeves is that FF and Sollux never got to play out their budding rose tints. 
> 
> Just some short fluff! 
> 
> Also major shoutout to my fave Pisces for having read this and reassured me it's not awful, one day I won't be too embarrassed to have her read my other stuff skdjdkfjfk

"Eheheh, stop it, FF."

Your adorable girlfriend giggles and swats at the hand you have that's firmly latched onto her wrist. You don't let go; she is _not_ going to poke at your lips again. 

"Aw come on, Sollux-"

"You must've really hated my stupid teeth, fish princess."

She withdraws, the sudden strength as she pulls her hand out of your grip surprising you as always. Why does it always throw you off that the cute, slightly-chubby and shorter troll possesses the raw physical prowess of her blood caste? You should be used to this by now. 

"I didn't hate your teeth, Sollux."

She sounds like she was going to say more but your snigger cuts her off. 

"Come on FF, of course you did. Everyone did, I did, even Troll Jegus did."

"Silly," she says, but you can still feel a frown in her tone. "...I liked everyfin about you, Sollux. Oops, I mean, everything."

You quiet down and spare her a sassy remark, if only because she'd momentarily reverted to a fish pun and it had shaken you a little. Feferi didn't employ her old quirk anymore, not since... 

"I still do like everything about you," she adds shyly, but the softness lasts a few seconds before you hear her old teasing "he-he". Gog, she's radiant like nothing you've ever known, and your bloodpusher does this squeezing thing in your chest.

"I do too." You say, scooting closer and carefully wrapping an arm around her. Then you realize what you said. "I mean, I- I like _you_ too, not that I like me-"

She laughs, and it's a cross between a snigger and a giggle. She slides both arms around you, and it takes you a moment to realize that the thing that lands on your shoulder is her chin. You turn your head slowly, wishing for the millionth time that you could see.

"....FF."

"Yes, Mr Captor?"

Your serious tone obviously caught her off guard, and you lick your lips nervously. 

"...Tell me what the expression on your face is."

It's silent for a while, maybe a whole minute, you don't know. You're not exactly the time-hopping, nanosecond-counting douchebag alien boy that's taken to pissing you off on this gogdamn meteor. 

"What do you mean, Sollux?" Her confusion is almost a relief to hear. "I can't see my own face, silly."

"Yeah but..." You tentatively raise your fingers to where you think her cheek might be, hoping that she moves away if you're about to poke her in the earfin. "You can feel your expression, right?"

When your fingertips make contact with her cold skin, she lets out a giggle, and a second later you realize you're touching her nose. 

"Well," she murmurs, and you smile at the drop in her voice. It's that thoughtful lilt she adopts when she's focused on something. "I guess the look on my face right now must be..."

You wait, frowning slightly when the pause stretches and the sentence hangs.

"Must be what?" You nudge. When you feel her chin leave your shoulder, her skin retreat from your reach, you pick up immediately on her change of mood. "What's wrong, FF?"

"Oh, nothing," her voice doesn't wobble, she's too well-practiced at staying chipper. But you know. You always know. 

"Peixes. Are you crying?"

"Don't be ridiculous," she snaps, but you can at least hear it now, which means she can, which means the silence that follows is probably her feeling unsure how to proceed. 

"It's okay, FF," you turn to her, arms outstretched sideways. Ever since losing your sight, you don't reach out to anyone for fear of knocking into them. Except KK, whom you knock over as often as possible...some things shouldn't change. "Come here."

"No, Sollux, it's not. It is not okay." She sounds absolutely pissed off but why that is all of a sudden just baffles you. 

"It's not okay, that's... Okay..." You respond stupidly. "So... No hugging?"

Before you can even begin to drop your arms, she rushes into you and the impact actually jolts you backwards a little.

"Oof!"

"Sorry..."

You close your arms around her, a confident motion because of how many times she's hugged you before. "You've got nothing to be sorry for, princess."

"I didn't mean to be a grumpy gil- uh, I mean, grumpy," she stumbles, and you feel yourself frowning at her almost-fish pun. "I, I just got really sad."

"Yeah, I know-"

"I wasn't crying, Sollux," she says sharply, and you stiffen, still wary of this side of her. It's nothing new, and Kanaya did say it was perfectly normal that Feferi was not a 24/7 ray of sunshine anymore, considering what happened to her. But the white hot rebuke that lies beneath her sudden statements, when one least expects it, does startle. 

You had been very conscious lately of how it almost always appeared defensively. As if the caring, nurturing Feferi Peixes was trying to protect herself from something. 

A dull, familiar stabbing fills your chest. 

"...Okay. I'm sorry that I thought you were crying," you can't help the way the sentence falls, mildly resentful. You're still just a shitty loser, and shittier potential boyfriend, obviously. 

A sigh from her signals the release from your embrace. But her fingers trail slowly down your cheek, barely touching. 

"I... I guess I did tear up." She admits, and you close your sightless eyes, melting into her touch. 

"Do you want to talk about why you're sad?" You learnt to use her words when inquiring after her emotions, words that she subconsciously indicates are okay to use. 

"Oh, Sollux," she breathes, and you wonder what emotions are causing that particular tone of voice. "I, I just, I know what I- I was looking at you like... Like you're the most amazing thing that exists. Which is true."

Her voice is so unsteady, you could pack it up as troll jello and sell it to wrigglers. This is clearly, for some reason, hard for her to say. You're still trying to distinguish why, considering that she showers you in her compliments all the time. 

"The most, beautiful, thing. How am I supposed to say that? I'm not saying it right, even now. How-"

"FF," you stop her gently, as her voice grows more agitated. You did not survive this entire stupid game to ever have to hear an iota of self-loathing in the voice of the least hateful troll you know. "I adore you, you know that?"

She hugs you again, just as suddenly, but with way less impact. You feel her face buried in your shoulder, coils of her thick and wiry hair tickling your jaw and neck. 

"Seriously, FF. I'm sorry I asked you to do something like that, it was dumb-"

"No it wasn't."

"Yeah, it kinda was," you say sheepishly, patting her back. "And it's kinda weird to describe your own facial expressions anyway. I should know. Some of mine are beyond words, even without my teeth."

Her laughter lifts the mood, and you rock her sideways while making buzzing noises, causing her laughter to rise in volume. 

"Oh my gog, stop it Sollux!"

"Nah," you say cheerfully, rocking with reckless abandon. She finally decides to retaliate, and it is unfortunately by tickling you in the ribs, making you gasp and scramble to catch her wrists. 

"Agh, no!"

"Hehehehe!"

You grab her hands, finally, out of sheer luck probably. Carefully, you shift a knee over what should be her thighs, managing for once to straddle her without falling over. Ten points to you. 

Her laughter has bubbled down, and even though the she's not lying down completely, you can tell by how close her breathing is, the change in the air is evident. You rub your thumbs against the cool skin of her wrists, loving how wide they were that your fingertips don't reach your thumbs. 

"Sollux," the way your name leaves her lips sends a thrill down your spine. Gog if only you had your eyes. 

"Feferi," you say, tasting it, moving your lips around her name as if the very ability to speak it is a blessing. You move forwards, closer to her, slowly. You know she'll meet you in the middle. 

And she does, soft lips and sighing and strands of hair that tickles your face. You kiss again as if you'd never kissed before, as if it was the first and the last time because both of you have known loss and both of you know what it's like to have to live for the moment and there's no telling what will happen next. 

But for now, there is a changed but undefeated royal fish girl beneath you, whom you are kissing senseless. And even though the two of you have been stalling the conversation, you're pretty sure that Feferi Peixes is almost officially your sweetheart. 

When you break for air, the words that she utters are nothing but happy. As you wish her to always be. 

"I love you, Sollux."

You don't hesitate.

"I love you too, FF."

\---

**Author's Note:**

> :')
> 
> Any feedback is appreciated, always. Thanks for reading!


End file.
